Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or any of its characters.Rated: GA/N: I hope by now you all know that BJ is Mick and Beth's adopted daughter. I have written many BJ stories, from baby to college student. Hugs and thanks to Allegrita for the fine tuning.

BJ’s Ninth Birthday

BJ plopped down onto the couch with a big sigh.

“What’s the matter, pumpkin?” Mick asked. “It’s your birthday! You should be on Cloud Nine!”

“But it’s still HOURS until my party!” she whined. Then she looked at Mick curiously. “What do you mean, ‘be on Cloud Nine?’ Clouds are numbered?”

Mick chuckled. “No, clouds aren’t numbered. Being on Cloud Nine means you are really, really happy about something. So happy it feels like you are floating on a cloud. On the day I married Mom, I was on Cloud Nine.”

“Wasn’t she there, too?” BJ asked.

“Where?”

“Cloud Nine. Wasn’t Mommy there with you? She was happy, too, right?”

“Well, yes, she was very happy, too. But Cloud Nine isn’t a real place. It’s a feeling.”

BJ was thoughtful for a minute. “Well, I think the clouds are numbered.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Number One is being here on earth. Number Nine is the highest you can go.”

“The highest?” Mick asked. “There’s no number Ten?”

“Well, of course there’s a Ten,” BJ explained matter-of-factly. “But Cloud Ten is Heaven. So Cloud Nine is the happiest you can be on earth.”

“I see,” Mick said, sending a grin over BJ’s head to Beth. “Hey, I have an idea to pass the time. Let’s look up more sayings about the number nine, shall we?” He got his laptop and sat next to his daughter on the couch. “See? Here are some others.”

BJ leaned against Mick and looked at the computer screen. “A stitch in time saves nine,” she read. “What does that mean?”

“Well, that means, um, well…” He looked at Beth for help; she shrugged and shook her head. “Well, I have no idea what that means,” Mick said sheepishly.

“I think I know,” BJ announced. “It means to sew a clock.”

“Sew a clock?”

“Yes. Stitching time.” She looked expectantly from Mick to Beth. “I want to sew a clock. Can I?”

“Of course you can, sweetheart,” Beth replied. “I have an idea. Why don’t you and Daddy look at some more sayings while I get it ready.”

“Okay! What else is there, Daddy?”

“There are songs with the number nine in them. Let’s see… ‘Love Potion Number Ni…’” Beth interrupted with a vampire level ‘psst!’ and shook her head at Mick. “Okaaay, not that one. How about ‘9 to 5,’ by Dolly Parton?” He looked up at Beth and she nodded. “It’s from a movie made in 1980. Waaaay before you were born,” he laughed as he touched her nose.

“She has funny hair,” BJ commented.

“Yes, she sure does!”

“What does ‘nine to five’ mean? Is it the time?”

“It means that someone works during the day, all day long, five days a week. From nine in the morning until five in the evening. Some people call it having a day job.”

“I see,” BJ said thoughtfully. “But not Uncle Josef.”

Mick smiled. “No, not Uncle Josef.”

“I know another song with ‘nine’ in it!” BJ said excitedly.

“You do? Which one?” Mick asked.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas!” she shouted. “It has nine ladies dancing!”

“So it does,” Mick said, without much enthusiasm.

BJ didn’t seem to notice and began singing. “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree...”

While BJ was singing, Beth used a piece of cardstock to print out a photo of a large wall clock from a home decorating site on the Internet. She cut it out and glued it to a second circle a little bit larger than the clock. Using a hole-punch, she made evenly spaced holes around the perimeter. Rummaging in a drawer she came up with a brightly colored shoelace, just as BJ was finishing up her last partridge.

Mick and Beth applauded as BJ took a bow. “That was wonderful, honey!” Beth exclaimed. “You remembered all of the verses! And look here,” she added, showing BJ the clock. “I made you a clock to sew. Remember when you were younger and you had lacing cards? It’s like that. You lace the shoelace through the holes around the clock.”

“I remember how to do it,” BJ said eagerly. She finished it in no time. “But now what do I do with it?” she asked, holding it up to Beth for inspection.

“Hmm, let me think. Here’s another piece of cardstock. Why don’t you glue your clock to the paper, and then draw and color some furniture so it looks like a living room with your clock on the wall. Do you like that idea?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a great idea!” And BJ scurried off to the kitchen table to start drawing.

The doorbell rang, and Mick set the laptop aside as he stood up to answer it. Before he was even halfway across the room, the door opened and Josef walked in, carrying brightly wrapped birthday presents.

“Josef, please, just walk right in,” Mick said with a touch of sarcasm.

“I did, thanks,” Josef replied breezily. “You’ll notice I actually rang the doorbell this time,” he added as he set the gifts down.

BJ ran towards him with her drawing in her hand. “Uncle Josef! Uncle Josef!” She cried. “Look what I made!”

Josef scooped her up and swung her around. “Hey, how old is my birthday girl?”

“I’m NINE!” She announced. “And look what I made! I stitched time.”

Josef set her down and took her drawing to study it. “You did what?” he asked, confused.

“I stitched time! See? I sewed around the clock and then I drew this living room to put it in.”

“I do see,” Josef said. “But what does sewing a clock have to do with it?”

Mick spoke up. “We were looking up sayings and things that have to do with the number nine,” he explained.

BJ nodded. “This one is for the ‘stitching nine times’ one,” she said.

“A stitch in time saves nine,” Mick corrected.

“Yeah, that one.”

“I’ve got one for you,” Josef volunteered. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

“Huh?” BJ looked at Josef.

Mick gave him a warning glance, but Josef ignored it and knelt down to talk to BJ. “It means if you already have something, it’s easier to keep it than someone else just saying it belongs to them.”

BJ stood in silence a minute, contemplating Josef’s face. Then she got a big smile. “You mean, if I…” she quickly slipped her hand inside Josef’s coat pocket… “take your cell phone, like this…” she grabbed his phone and ran to the other side of the room… “that now it’s MY cell phone?”

“Hey!” Josef stood, mock enragement on his face. “You give that back, you little scamp!” In an instant he was beside BJ and retook possession of his phone while she giggled.

In vampire undertones, Mick admonished Josef. “Josef, please do not teach my daughter to flout the law and make her think stealing things that don’t belong to her is okay.”

“But I do some of my best business that way,” he whispered back.

“That, I believe,” Mick replied with a sigh.

“Hey! No Beetleing!” BJ pouted, her hands on her hips.

“No what?” Josef asked. “What’s ‘Beetleing?’ Is that even a word?”

“BJ made up the word,” Beth explained. “It means vampire whispering.”

BJ nodded. “Right. I can see your lips move, but I can’t hear anything, and it’s rude to whisper in front of others. Mommy and Daddy usually do it when they talk about me.” She crossed her arms and harrumphed.

“But I don’t understand the Beetle part.”

Mick sighed. “Vampire whispering, Josef. VW. Get it?”

Beth stepped in. “Enough of that. Right now,” she put her hands on BJ’s shoulders, “the birthday girl needs to go get changed.”

“I bet you’ll be dressed to the nines!” Josef smiled at her. And before she could ask, he leaned down and whispered in her ear. “It means you’ll be dressed to perfection!” He stood up and looked down at BJ’s beaming face. “Hey, I have an idea. How would you like some of my girls to come over and help you get ready?”

I love nine-year-old BJ! My youngest granddaughter just turned 10, and I think you really captured a nine-year-old's bright curiosity and her creative interpretations of new concepts. That "stitching tine" idea was just brilliant. And good for Beth, to come up with a great way for BJ to bring her idea to life.

I actually giggled out loud at Mick's consternation when Josef gave BJ ideas about possession being 9/10s of the law. I wonder if that will come back to haunt them. But it's lovely to see Josef besotted over BJ. He clearly thinks the moon rises and sets for her alone. And his idea about sending some beautiful young ladies to help make BJ "sparkly" for her party is a master stroke. It's a little girl's dream come true!

This was fun, and BJ is extra adorable here! I had never realized how many of the "nine" sayings (Love Potion number nine, nine tenths of the law, etc) are not exactly nine-year-old friendly. (And from what I remember of the movie, I'm not even so sure about 9 to 5 for a nine-year-old!) But at least BJ has cloud nine, "stitching nine times" , and dressed to the nines.

This made me laugh:

MickLifeCrisis wrote:In vampire undertones, Mick admonished Josef. “Josef, please do not teach my daughter to flout the law and make her think stealing things that don’t belong to her is okay.”

“But I do some of my best business that way,” he whispered back.

Josef is really cute with BJ and she's going to love her sparkly makeover. But I dunno, nine-year-olds like to share what they love with the people they love, so I'm betting on sparkles for everybody.